NEW YORK, NY.- DC Moore Gallery will present And Yet Again, a solo exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Katia Santiba馿z.
The visual impact of Santiba馿zs abstract paintings is immediate, felt simultaneously in the vibrant color combinations on the canvas and also in the intensity of the repeated forms throughout each work. These new paintings mark the artists continuing exploration of structure and order within the framework of the grid, which first appeared in her paintings in 2007.
The internal logic and thoughtful decision making inherent to Santiba馿zs practice is profound in todays world that moves at warp speed, with endless information available in seconds at the touch of a button. The steady and precise progression of this work requires the artists patience and focus, and in turn asks that of the viewer, not only to look, but to intentionally see.
Santiba馿zs work begins with the careful construction of a geometric matrix. This matrix becomes the structural basis for each composition, and establishes the size of each square within, sometimes as small as half of an inch. Within each diminutive square, Santiba馿z carefully paints a repeated motif, which she refers to as a spiral or pinwheel. The curling abstract form is embedded within each section of the grid, its circular form animating the canvas with a recurring feeling of motion. Santiba馿zs conception of the spiral is inspired by the natural world and organically occurring circular forms, like snail shells, growth rings in trees, flowers, and vine tendrils.
The dichotomy between repetition and differentiation is at the core of this new body of work. Santiba馿z changes and shifts the sequencing and selection of color in each segment to animate color vibrations and geometric patterning. The exhibitions title, And Yet Again, speaks to the consistent nature of the artists methodology and the cycles of life, time, and natures processes, which repeat but are never the same. Her process meditates on the balance of order and disorder within the world, whether political, environmental, or psychological, generating complexity,
perception and meaning.
Santiba馿z encourages viewers to look deeply at the surface of her paintings and seek out the variations. The all-over compositions draw the viewer in to start where they will, and continue through the painting as if lost in a field or garden. Every painting is filled with innumerable decisions, beautiful and seductive, moving with color and animating a rigid structure.